Method of treating telegraph-tapes



P. B. DELANY.-

METHOD OF TREATING TELEGRAPH TAPES.

APPLICATTON FILED JULYB. 1911.

1,321,421. P11811191 Nov. 11, 1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK B. DELANY, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR '10 TELEPOST COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 11, 1919.

' Application filed July 9, 1917. Serial No. 179,509.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK B. DnLANY, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Treating Telegraph-Tapes, of which the following 1s a specification.

This invention relates to the preparation of tapes for chemical telegraphy, and one of the principal features ofthe inventlon consists in applying a chemical solution to the under side only of the tape so that the opposite side is moistened entirely by capillary filtration through the tape and further to so prepare the tape that it may have dry or normal sections and a chemically treated section whereby the tensile strength of the finished tape is sufiicient to prevent breaka e.

As illustrated, Figure 1 shows conventionally the arrangement of parts appropriate for carrying out the invention. Fig. 2 shows the tape lifted clear of the wetting wheel when the signals cease to be received. Fig. 3 is a cross section showing the tape contained within its lifting arm. Flg. 4 shows the tape after the solution has been applied accordin to my method; Fig; 5 shows a section 0 the absorbent w ck for the wetting wheel; Fig. 6 a wetting wheel formed with a serrated surface and Fig. 7 shows the wetting wheel in section with the absorbent wick mounted in its periphery.

In carryingout my invention, there is employed a supply reel 1 carrylng a roll of dry tape 3. From the supply reel the tape passes beneath a guide wheel 2, vertically ad ustable to regulate the extent of contact between the tape band the wetting wheel '4 over which it passes. A suitable sprlng actuated lifting arm 5 having a slotted or bifurcated end for the passage of the tape is provided for automatically lifting the tape out of contact with the wetting wheel upon the cessation of the signals, so as to prevent oversaturation of the tape. After leaving the wheel 4, the tape passes beneath a second guide roller 6 which maintains the same in proper position for travel over the receiver contact drum 7. The drum 7, as is customary in this art, forms a ground connectlon G for the line 8 through the marking finger 9 and the chemically treated intermediate tape 3. Suitable pulling rollers 10 and 12 are provided for drawing the tape from the supply reel through the various parts described. The wetting wheel at is suitably j ournale'd in a tank 18 supplied with the chemical solution 14:. By means of a knob 15 upon the shaft on which wheel 4 is mounted the wheel may be given a turn through the solution to insure saturation at the start of that portion of the tape between the wetting wheel and the solution. This also avoids waste of time and of the tapes. But for this a considerable extent of blank tape would have to precede the perforated signals at the transmitting station in order to allow the saturated tape to arrive at the marking finger 9. At the conclusion of the transmission the roller 12 is lifted from the driven roller 10 automatically as well understood in the art. The tension on the tape relaxes to permit the lifting arm 5 to raise the tape out of contact with the wetting wheel 4, thus avoiding over saturation and weakening of the tape at that point during temporary inactivity.

The wetting wheel 4 may be formed with a peripheral groove to receive a wick P, as

shown in Figs. 5 and 7, or the periphery may be suitably milled or roughened as in Fig. 6.

The finished tape assumes the form shown in Fig. 4 where 16 designates the surface bearing the chemical solution and 17 the dry or normal surface at each side.

Heretofore it has been customary to im merse loosely Wound rolls of the tape in the chemical solution, or to draw the tape through the liquid. These methods have not been entirely satisfactory because when freshly treated the tape is frequently too wet and likely to break, while after a few days in storage the tape is apt to become too dry. A further objection to these methods is that the solution is applied to both sides of the tape, thereby depositing undissolved crystals, oxidized particles, residuum and foreign matter directly upon the upper or recording surface of the tape.

My invention obviates, these faults. The tape is drawn over the feed wheel 4 partly immersed in the chemical solution and motored by the tape as it is drawn over its upper rim. The banded or milled periphery of the wheel carries the solution only to the under side of the tape in the quantity desired, the saturation being regulated by increase or decrease of the extent of contact of the tape with the periphery of the Wheel. The upper, or recording surface of the tape, being out of contact with the feed wheel, is moistened automatically by capillary filtration of the chemical solution from the under surface. This feature is valuable as it prevents the formation of a deposit of crystalline or foreign matter directly on the recording surface of the tape. In practice good results are obtained by use of a Wheel about three inches in diameter and one-eighth of an inch in width. The delivered solution, spreading to a Width of about one-fourth of an inch, leaves about one-eighth of an inch of dry'tape on each side. In this Way the strength of the tape is equal to any strain put upon it, breaking 1s avo1 ded, less solution is required, saturatlon is always un1- form and the efiectiveness of electro-chemical action at its highest.

/ In drawing the tape over the wetting wheel some of the solution is sprayed on the tape by centrifugal force in advance of the contact between the tape and the Wheel,

thereby facilitating and preventing waste or s10 ping of solution.

n the pending applications of Patrick B. Delany and Louis W. Shumaker No. 204,680 filed NOV. 30, 1917 and No. 239,575 filed June 12, 1918, claims are made to features of the apparatus herein shown and described, While the claim herein is confined to a method.

I claim as my invention:

The herein described method of preparing a record-receiving tape for use in chemical telegraphy, which consists in applying a chemical solution to the middle portion only of the under side of the tape, causing the solution to moisten the middle portion of the upper or recording side of the tape by capillary filtration and then reducing the moisture in said middle portion of the tape by lateral absorption of said moisture by the marginal portions of said tape.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

PATRICK B. DELANY. 

